Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

Contended Ground

by Dean Gardner

I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

When God gives us a vision and a promise of new ground to be taken in our walk with Him, that vision will usually be contended for. We only have to look at the history of Israel, past and present, to see that reality enacted. When they first entered the Promised Land, the Lord told Joshua that He would give him every place that he set his feet, but there were enemies to be conquered in realising that promise.

Today, in modern Israel, re-established in that Promised Land nearly seventy years ago, we still see them surrounded by nations contending for their very right to existence. In our own lives, as followers of Jesus, we too find contention from hostile spiritual enemies, as we move into our own ‘Promised Land’ – giants, fortified cities and strongholds, waiting to be overcome and taken. Many of those strongholds are within our own hearts and lives – places in our thinking and believing that are yet to come under the Lordship of Jesus.

Even when we’ve gained possession of new ground, we need to stand firm, and hold on to what we’ve gained. In 2 Samuel 23:11-12, we read of one of the exploits of Shammah, one of King David’s ‘mighty men’, as he took his stand in a lentil patch against a troop of Philistines. A lentil patch may not seem important to some, but, for that man, it may have been part of his inheritance.

For each of us, there’s an inheritance in Christ, as believers, which we need to possess and hold on to, when contended for. That inheritance includes our ministry or calling, but also the promises we have, as God’s children, of physical and spiritual rest and healing, and freedom - freedom from the enemies of sin, anxiety, fear and controlling habits. In the days in which we’re living, we’re also increasingly called to stand firm on biblical truth, as secular and humanistic philosophies infiltrate the Christian Church. Jude, writing his letter to believers in the New Testament wrote, ‘Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3).

The Lord encourages each of us to press on, step by step, towards ‘the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’, and, like Joshua, we too have His promise that He will be with us as we do.

‘Step by step, we’re moving forward,
Little by little we’re gaining ground.
Every prayer a powerful weapon.
Strongholds come tumbling down, and down, and down, and down’.

(Doug Horley)

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your call on my life. Please help me to hold on to every place of victory and promise You’ve given me, and please help me to press on until I see You face to face. In Your name, I pray. Amen.

Dean Gardner worked part time in the Ellel Grange Ministry Office for four and a half years until October 2018 and is now part of the Associate teaching and ministry team. He now lives in Norfolk with his wife Gemma. In 1988 he experienced God`s amazing grace at a carol service and began a journey of restoration and healing with Jesus. He longs to continue that journey allowing God`s truth to change his own life but also to share that truth with others that they too might know Jesus for themselves.

 

Sign Up Now

Please feel free to use this devotional to send on to your friends or share with your church fellowship. Provided full acknowledgement is made to Seeds of the Kingdom as the source, you are also welcome to use it in a non-commercial way and reproduce it in magazines or other Christian websites. The copyright for any commercial use of the material remains with Ellel Ministries International.

Master Builders is an important resource book writ...
This is the remarkable story of a very remarkable lady! Faced with crippling rheumatoid arthritis as a child and having to have dozens of operations, Beatriz Benestad did not let her disability obliterate her vision – both for practising medicine and...
Divine intervention, angelic help and God moving i...
This book not only addresses the nature of relatio...
In David Cross’s A – Z Guide to the Healing Ministry you will find answers to almost every question you could ever have about the healing and deliverance ministries. This is much more than a reference book for occasional use – Peter Horrobin describes...
This story traces the series of disastrous decisions Andy made that almost destroyed his life. It also reveals the extraordinary love of God to rescue those who are utterly lost. If your life seems out of control, this book offers you the same hope that...
Getting right to the core of the Apostle Paul’s ...
Traumatic events leave a scar on broken lives. Unhealed trauma is one of the primary reasons why some people do not easily heal from the consequences of accidents or sudden shocks. This ground-breaking book is the culmination of thirty years of experience...
In this book, Bob Gordon teaches what the Bible sa...
The true story of Harris, a black Labrador with ch...